Political Attitudes in Great Britain for December 1997

MORI interviewed a representative quota sample of 2,122 adults aged 18+ at 169 sampling points across Great Britain between 12-15 December 1997.

Q1 How would you vote if there were a General Election tomorrow?
(If undecided or refused at Q1)
Q2 Which party are you most inclined to support?

%

Conservative

26

Labour

55

Lib Dem

15

Scot / Welsh Nationalist

3

Green Party

1

Referendum Party

*

Other

1

Would not vote

9

Undecided

4

Refused

1

Q3 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way the Government is running the country?
Q4 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mr Blair is doing his job as Prime Minister?
Q5 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mr Hague is doing his job as leader of the Conservative Party?
Q6 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Mr Ashdown is doing his job as Leader of the Liberal Democrats?

Satisfied

Dissatisfied

Don't know

%

%

%

Government

43

38

19

Blair

61

27

12

Hague

20

50

31

Ashdown

59

15

26

Q7 What would you say is the most important issue facing Britain today?
Q8 What do you see as other important issues facing Britain today?

Q7 / 8

%

National Health Service / Hospitals

42

Education / schools

31

Unemployment / factory closure / lack of industry

31

Common Market / EU / Europe / Single European Currency

28

Pensions / social security

20

Crime / law & order / violence / vandalism

16

Economy / economic situation

14

Pollution / environment

9

Housing

8

Poverty / inequality

8

Beef / BSE / Mad Cow Disease

7

Drug abuse

5

Race relations / immigration / immigrants

4

Morality / individual behaviour

4

Inflation / prices

3

Northern Ireland

3

Defence / foreign affairs

2

Transport / public transport

2

Taxation

2

Local government / council tax

1

Nuclear weapons / nuclear war / disarmament

1

AIDS

1

Animal welfare

1

Countryside / rural life

1

Scottish / Welsh Assembly / Devolution

1

Privatisation

*

Pound / exchange rate / value of pound

*

Trade unions / strikes

*

Other

13

Don't know

4

Q9 Do you think that the general economic condition of the country will improve, stay the same, or get worse over the next 12 months?

%

Improve

26

Stay the same

36

Get worse

30

Don't know

8

Q10 Which of these statements comes closest to your view of Mr Blair?
Q11 Which of these statements comes closest to your view of Mr Hague?

Mr Blair

Mr Hague

%

%

I like him and I like his policies

47

10

I like him but I dislike his policies

22

14

I dislike him but I like his policies

7

12

I dislike him and I dislike his policies

14

38

No opinion

10

26

Q12 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Prince Charles is doing his job as Prince of Wales?
Q13 Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way the Queen is doing her job as Monarch?

Prince Charles

The Queen

%

%

Satisfied

61

72

Dissatisfied

29

21

Don't know

10

7

Q14 On balance, do you think Britain would be better off or worse off if the monarchy was abolished, or do you think it would make no difference?

%

Better off

15

Worse off

55

Make no difference

27

Don't know

3

Q15 Which party did you vote for at the General Election in May 1997? If you are not sure, or did not vote, please say so.

The voting intention figures exclude those who say they would not vote (9%), are undecided (4%) or refuse to name a party (1%).
All figures are in percentages. Where percentages do not sum to 100, this may be due to multiple responses, the exclusion of don't knows or computer rounding. Data were weighted to match the profile of the population.
An asterisk (*) denotes a figure between zero and 0.5%.